My Kitten
by Megan Justine
Summary: What would you do if the one you loved, the one who you believed was destined for your heart, was torn away right out of your grasps? What would you do? Follow Katniss and Peeta as they struggle with that answer, and dream of a love that defies odds. Based in Medieval European era where there are only dreams and harsh realities


**My Kitten**

I stand on my balcony as a fresh breeze flows through my senses, purifying my heart. The breeze continues through the open doors, lifting my bedding up, making it appear as if it were floating. The light wind brushes against his skin, causing him to subconsciously reach for the sheets so the heat will remain in his body. I walk over to his side of my bed and gently shake his bronze coloured arm, as I reveal it to the air around us. I can see him react, for a chill runs down his spine. He turns over, so he is facing the edge of my bed. I drop to my knees just in time to see his bright blue orbs staring back at me, with a slight smile playing on his lips.

"My Kitten, why do you torment me by opening the balcony doors to wake me up? The wind ruined a beautiful dream."

"But Peeta, how else am I supposed to wake you up without startling you?" I ask as a small smirk begins to form on his face.

"Oh, I can think of a few ways", Peeta flirts, stretching his hand out to gently run his fingers down my cheek, and then he delicately traces my jawline. Once his finger meets the center of my chin, it travels upwards, towards my lips, where he begins to trace its boundaries. I don't have a chance to respond, for Peeta catches my face in his hands, and brings my lips to his.

Though the kiss was brief, the memory of how it feels to be loved, to be free from all life's disasters, will remain forever.

"I agree with you my love; however, the time has come for my palace to wake. With you here without anyone's knowledge, the risk of us getting caught is high, and my father would never let us see each other again." Panic floods through my body as the realization of our situation bears heavily on my heart.

"My Kitten," Peeta begins. He is the only one who calls me by that name, and to know that he uses, "my" in front of my name, makes me feel like I am his, and nothing can change that fact. Those two simple words calm my soul, the point where I can see hope, where I can feel secure. Peeta continues, "I love you, so very much. I know that being in love so young makes you afraid, but our love, it is meant to be. Nothing can stop our love from growing, nothing can interfere."

Peeta pauses, taking in a steady breath as he brings my head to his toned chest, breathing me in. "Marry me my Kitten."

"What?" I ask in shock. "My love for you exceeds all being, but Peeta, at seventeen, no one will allow it, I'm certain. Love is only determined at age 21."

"Then we'll confess our love for each other tonight, at the Gala, in front of all the nobles of Scotland and England. Then they'll have to believe our love, for no one expresses love in such a way. And they do allow marriages under age 21, but only to combine kingdoms."

"Peeta, you are not the first heir anymore," I say as I run my hand through his soft brown hair. Our eyes meet in sadness but understanding as I say, "Your father gave that right to Gale when he married your step mother, to prove that they are 'one flesh'."

"This is the only time I've ever desired to have that right again," Peeta sighs, dropping his head on the pillow. Then, suddenly, he snaps up again, but now facing me siting upwards. "I don't care!" He exclaims, "I don't care about being King. I don't care about what people will think when they hear two young people are in love. All I care about is you, and I'll be damned before I let anyone get in the way of our love and marriage. Marry me Kitten."

I stare at him, grateful to have not only met him, but fallen in love. "Yes Peeta, yes!" I exclaim excitedly, a wide smile forming on both our faces.

"My Kitten!" Peeta laughs as he quickly stands up and lifts me in his arms, spinning us around and around. "My love, I must go now. There is so much to do, so much to plan. And I must get you a ring. The brightest and biggest ring you've ever seen, one that compares to our love," Peeta marvels.

"Not a thing in this world can compare to our love," I respond, reaching up to softly kiss my now fiancé. The warmth from his lips spreads across my entire body in a matter of seconds, reaching into the deepest parts of my being.

"Farewell my love, until noon's hour, at the well," Peeta says as he releases me, walking towards my balcony. I watch as he flashes one last bright smile that makes his blue eyes sparkle, and climbs down the path he has trekked every night he is in Scotland.

I walk down a hallway in the castle, with an irreplaceable smile hanging on my lips. As I merrily walk past the King's office, I hear a voice I did not expect to hear talking to my father at this time of day. I turn into the nook beside the door as the words from my father and Gale, Peeta' step brother, echo towards me.

"Your Highness," Gale addresses, "do not doubt my intentions towards your daughter. I have loved Katniss from a far for a very long time, and sir, I just know she will be thrilled to find out the Prince of England has asked for her hand in marriage."

"How does he know Peeta asked for my hand?" I quietly mutter to myself, but then it all becomes clear. Gale has requested to marry me! Oh please father, say I'm too young, and say I won't have to lie beside the brother of my love; say no!

"Well Gale," I hear my father's voice of approval, "you have certainly proven a worthy adversary for Katniss' hand. Love is such a rare thing. I've never experienced it with my own wife, but if you say you love my daughter, I have no doubt that her heart will grow to love a man with such dashing good looks as myself. And the kingdom's will be united!" my father, or the man I thought I knew, sang.

I hear nothing, see nothing, and feel only the rough stone sliding against my back as the floor, my destination, approaches quicker and quicker. This cannot be! I cannot marry the man who I've caught lurking near my quarters on numerous occasions; whose eyes have only looked upon me in a quizzical manner; whose brother I am in love with. I must speak with Peeta. I need him right now. His eyes are the last thought on my mind as I quickly rise and sprint towards the well.

I sit on the bench by the well, deep in the forest, behind the castle, yet opposite of the ocean. A million thoughts run through my mind as a new wave of tears streams down my face. I gasp when I hear branched snap beneath set weight, only to then hear my name whispered and feet dash towards me.

"My Kitten, what troubles your silver eyes? What causes you to grasp your auburn hair at the ends in clenched fists?" Peeta asks as a look of panic surges through his face.

"Y-your b-brother asked my, my father, and h-he said y-yes!" I cried out in agony at the thought of being forced away from Peeta forever.

"What did Gale ask your father Kitten?" uttered Peeta, as he ran his hands across my tear stained cheeks.

"He, he asked to m-marry me," I stuttered between breaths. A look of terror fills Peeta's features. "My father said y-yes," I exclaimed once more, like such a line could not be forgotten.

I watch as Peeta's face quickly goes through the emotions that I am stuck on and yet to reach: fear, sadness, denial, and then finally anger, "The audacity of him!" Peeta hollered to the birds in the trees. "No! He cannot, no; he will not take you away from me! I'd rather die than watch my brother walk down the aisle with you at his side known as his bride!" He pauses to take a breath, but in that time, I find our way out.

"You don't have to!" I announced. "Tonight, during the ball, instead of confessing our love, we will run away, far from Scotland, to a monastery in Liverpool. There, we will marry, and a start a new life, far away from this one. And if anyone finds us, we will already be married!"

"My Kitten, you're brilliant! Yes, we will start a new life, one better that living apart. Tonight, during the fifth dance, we will walk off to separate exits, and then meet underneath your balcony. Together, we will take my father's carriage, and go off to Liverpool to wed. You must dry your eyes my dear. Think of the life we will live, not the one your father has commissioned. I must go and prepare things for our journey. Until tonight my Kitten," Peeta vowed as he cups my face and brings my lips to his. That same memory of love and safety flushes through me.

Once we part, and Peeta walks away, I am too consumed in thoughts of our kiss and future together to even notice another pair of blue eyes, eyeing me viciously.

I glance around the ballroom, waiting for my eyes to fall upon a certain man with short brown hair that curls at the base of his hair line; whose blue eyes shine in delight when I wake up to them as he vacates in Scotland. Then finally, my eyes land on the pair of blue eyes I've been searching for. Peeta begins to step towards me, but freezes when a tall, broad man with alarming blue eyes steps in front of me.

My eyes travel upwards to view the blue ones staring down upon me, with thin black hair lightly dusting his eyelashes. I see a smirk playing at his lips as he takes my hand in his, without my permission.

"Care to dance?" Gale asks, pulling me to the dance floor. I glance over to Peeta, and see him tense up as he give me a nod of approval, but pointing to his wrist watch.

"Yes sir," I curtly say, hoping this fourth dance will be a fast song so I can soon excuse myself, and then quickly meet Peeta so our future can begin together. It turns out to be a slow song, how fantastic.

As Gale places one hand in mine, and the other on my hip, I can feel the hand on my hip span across my mid-section, then travel downwards until the tips of his fingers lay on a part of me I wish his fingers did not touch, a place where I do not appreciate his fingers being.

"Would you please move your hand Gale?" I insisted, tempted to reach for it myself, but knowing that a lady is not supposed to do so, for it is against a man's position to make decisions. Peeta never did this to me.

"No I will not," he purrs as his grip tightens on my lower waist. "I've seen you allowing my brother to subtly touch you on your arm, your cheek, run his hand down your hair. It's my turn now. And I shall do as I see fit."

His declaration runs through my mind, as I think back to the times when Peeta had made noticeable physical contact with me; all that Gale said was in public, except for Peeta running his hand down my hair. He only does that when we are alone… in my chambers. I look up to Gale and can tell he notices I caught onto what he has confessed. Gale watches me in secret. I hastily turn my head in the direction of Peeta, but then I hear a harsh voice tickling my ear.

"Turn your head my way, _Kitten_. Do not look at him at all!" Gale whispers darkly. I turn back to Gale, anger shining through my eyes. Only Peeta calls me Kitten, everyone else, Katniss. "Now, I am going to say this only once. I am sick and tired of watching my _brother's_ hands roam all over your body, while you two constantly confess your _undying love_ for each other. There's only so much sap a man can take, and you and Peeta exceeded that limit _long ago._ But I was kind, and let you play out your little scenarios without telling your father, all until you two decided to get married, well,"

I gasp in shock as my face drains from all colours, "I knew I had to do something," Gale creepily continues, "with you marrying Peeta, the title for the next king might be given back to him, and that's unacceptable. You don't expect a man to willingly loose his love and throne all in the same day, do you? No, I needed to put a stop to it. And with your father being so willing to give your hand in marriage, I thought all was swell, that is until you and that idiot decided to run away. Now I suggest you obey everything I say, or you can watch your _love _die right before your eyes, then see whom you really are meant to be with."

I nod my head as fear takes over the anger in my body. I will not let Peeta die.

"Good. Now, at the end of the song, I want you to take my hand and come with me. Do NOT look back at lover boy, or he will die, just straight ahead. You will follow me, and not make a single sound, understand?"

I nod my head again as the severity of the situation falls upon my chest. At that moment, the song ended, and I held onto Gale's hand and took a step away from Peeta, following Gale. Every single step was another crack in my heart, as the distance between us grew. Soon, I am in the garden, underneath my balcony, where a horse and carriage wait hidden in the bushes.

Gale roughly pushed me into the carriage, climbing in after me. Once he is seated, he barks to the buggy driver, "Take us to the original destination." I turn my head back looking out of the window, silently praying Peeta is following us, but for some reason, I feel he has been stopped. Suddenly, I feel a hard hand on the back of my neck and a wet cloth smothering my face. I struggle against the force, but instantaneously fall asleep as the scent of Ether fills the air.

I wake up to the smell of rotting wood and vintage monographs. When I open my eyes, an old man is standing over me dressing in black, with a while collar around his neck, "She has awoken," he exclaims as he helps me to my feet. "We can go on with the service now."

"Remember," Gale vulgarly says, "she frequently passes out from over exhaustion, and today has been a very exciting day." Gale glances over at me with a smile on his face, but his eyes say the opposite of happiness. "So you will need to be fast, for who knows when she might give way again. You do not want to wait any longer to get married, now do you,_ my Kitten_?"

In a state of shock, I pull myself together, with the only hope that I am saving Peeta's life. As a tear falls from my dirty brown eyes as I plaster a fake smile on my face and say, "Yes dear."

I see Gale nod once, as if I did the right thing, and the hope of saving Peeta grows stronger. "Then we shall begin," the old man states.

I walk towards Gale and take my hand in his. It feels to rough and cold against my skin, so unlike Peeta's. I hear the old man ask Gale, "Do you take this young woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Gale drawls in my ear, his breath scratching against my neck, causing me to want to pull away. _For Peeta' life,_ I say to myself as I resist the powerful urge to pull away and run.

"And do you; take this young man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

I take in a shuddering breath, as another tear falls from my eyes, straight to the floor and say, "I-"

"Stop Kitten!" I hear Peeta scream. I spin around and see him sprinting through the doors with at least ten palace guards, "Him!" He hisses, "He kidnapped Princess Katniss Everdeen of Scotland!"

Suddenly, all the guards' storm towards Gale, as Peeta ran towards me. I met him halfway when his arms come around me and lift me into an embrace. Tears spring from both out eyes as I say, "I thought I'd never see you again! He threatened to kill you, and I do not know what I would do without you!"

"Me to love, but I'm here now. I'll always be here," Peeta says as he captures my lips in a kiss full of so much passion, history should record the moment to explain to future generations what true love looks like. How in this world, love is meant to be, and only few are chosen to bear its responsibilities.

When I land on my feet again, Peeta and I look at each other, both our eyes shining with love and lust, until Peeta's eyes widen in horror. I am roughly thrown to the side by Peeta, looking up just in time to see Gale pierce a sword right through my life's heart. A scream unlike any other escapes my lips as I watch Gale viciously rip the blood stained sword out of him, as Peeta falls to the ground.

So much commotion happens within that minute. Gale's look of pleasure gracing his face right before one of the guards executes him; the cries from the old man as well as other guards filling the room. But the only thing that matters is laying on the floor, gasping for breath as he coughs up crimson blood.

I rush to Peeta's side and take his hand in mine as I watch the life slowly drain from his bright blue eyes. His hand still as soft and warm in mine as it was on the day we first held hands. Peeta raises his other hand to trace the outline of my features once more, as his words of hope and security escape his lips one last time, "My Kitten."


End file.
